Blogging the Buckeyes

Get Email Updates

Ohio State Headlines

Our Ohio State headlines email newsletter delivers Buckeyes athletics news from
The Dispatch. Sent weekday mornings and Saturday game days during football season. You'll
also be alerted when breaking news happens involving the Buckeyes.

PARIS -- Heading into the French Open, there appeared to be reasons to wonder whether Rafael
Nadal would leave Roland Garros as the champion yet again.

There were the three losses on clay, including one last month to Novak Djokovic.

There was the aching back that hampered Nadal during a loss in the Australian Open final in
January -- and, it turned out, flared up again in Paris.

And there was the question of whether Nadal could keep up his near-perfection at the French
Open, a tournament he has dominated the way no man ever has dominated any of tennis' Grand Slams.

In the end, none of it mattered. Nadal beat Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 in yesterday's final
to improve to 66-1 at Roland Garros, including 35 wins in a row. Nadal owns nine French Open
titles, the last five in a row.

"Today, the tennis gives me back what happened in Australia," Nadal said. "For me, playing
here in Roland Garros is just unforgettable, forever."

Five things we learned during the 2014 French Open:

NADAL'S PLACE IN HISTORY

It was only a dozen years ago, at the 2002 U.S. Open, where Pete Sampras won his record 14th
Grand Slam title. At the time, no one else had more than 12. The next year, Roger Federer won the
first of his 17 majors. Now Nadal has raised his total to 14 -- less than a week after his 28th
birthday, so there is time to add to it. He is about two months older than Federer was when he got
No. 14.

DJOKOVIC'S CAREER SLAM

Once more, Djokovic came close to joining Federer and Nadal as an owner of a career Grand
Slam. And once more, Djokovic ran into Nadal. Djokovic is 0-6 against Nadal at the French Open,
including losses in the 2012 final and 2013 semifinals. Federer went through something similar --
he lost to Nadal in Paris in the 2005 semifinals and every final from 2006-08, before finally
getting his French Open title in 2009, after Nadal lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
Maybe Djokovic just needs a little help, too. "He deserves to win this tournament," Nadal said. "I
am sure he will do it in the future."

THE BIG 2

Nadal and Djokovic are separating themselves from the other two members of the Big 4, Federer
and Andy Murray. Federer, 32, has lost before the quarterfinals at three of the past four majors.
Murray made the French Open semifinals but was overwhelmed by Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Setting his
sights on a title defense at Wimbledon starting June 23, Murray made a groundbreaking choice for
his new coach, hiring former women's No.1 Amelie Mauresmo.

SHARAPOVA'S BACK

After a second-round loss at Wimbledon in 2013, Maria Sharapova played one match the rest of
the year, because her surgically repaired right shoulder acted up. Her second French Open title
proves she is back -- and might be ready to win a second Wimbledon trophy 10 years after her first.
Sharapova still has problems serving -- 12 double-faults in her 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory over
Simona Halep on Saturday -- but if she can keep winning third sets at her current rate, that might
not matter.

WILLIAMS AT WIMBLEDON

Serena Williams' title defense ended meekly, with a 6-2, 6-2 second-round loss to 20-year-old
Garbine Muguruza, one of the up-and-comers who made an impression in Paris (Halep is 22;
semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard is 20). No one reacts better to disappointment than Williams, so look
out at Wimbledon.